German builders threaten to strike

Industrial disputes could threaten Schroeder's election campaign

BERLIN, Germany -- German builders are threatening to strike for the first time in the country's post-war history.

They say they will strike on Monday in a pay dispute that marks the latest round of labour unrest.

The industrial action comes at an awkward time for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as he battles to win re-election in September.

The IG Bau union said several thousand workers at building sites in Berlin and Hamburg will strike lead the strike which would gradually be expanded nationwide.

The union, which represents 340,000 of the 950,000 workers, said on Saturday that workers had voted by an overwhelming 98.63 percent majority to strike.

"The workers are highly motivated for the fight," IG Bau leader Klaus Wiesehuegel told Reuters.

"We're prepared for a long battle and will raise the intensity of the walkout week by week."

The union is seeking a 4.5 percent pay rise for its members whose contracts ended in March.

Employers offered a three percent rise starting in September and a one-off payment of 100 euros in August, which effectively amounts to 1.7 percent rise.

"Several thousand workers will go out in the first wave," said Wiesehuegel.

The employers have condemned the action as irresponsible amid acute weakness of demand and said jobs would be destroyed.

"The union is going to unnecessarily risk the loss of further jobs," said employers negotiator Thomas Bauer.

"We want to avoid an escalation," he added, saying employers would wait to see how the strike unfolds before locking out workers at sites where strikes were not taking place.

Bauer said turnover in the sector fell 10.6 percent in the first quarter of 2002. About 500,000 construction industry jobs have been lost since 1995.

Schroeder's centre-left Social Democrats have narrowed the gap on rival Edmund Stoiber's conservatives to four percentage points, according to an Electoral Research Group poll published on Friday.

But political analysts fear a major strike in the financially troubled construction sector could cast new doubts on Schroeder's management of the economy and thwart his tentative recovery in the polls before it gets started.